Here is how the misperception started. When the dotcom bubble burst about a decade ago, suddenly, this became a career to avoid, not pursue. This has left the IT industry floundering, and people truly need to get back on the "horse," so to speak, and fill a very real need with this particular industry.
It's true in some cases that jobs in IT are often outsourced to other countries -- and perhaps, as well, with a focus on this, we can stop "bleeding" jobs in this way. But a real drawback right now for the IT industry is NOT that there aren't enough jobs in IT to go round. In fact, because people simply have the perception that there isn't an IT industry to speak of, and believe that IT jobs in general are scarce, they're not even looking. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The REAL truth about jobs in IT
If you want a job in IT, you've got it, providing you've got the education and experience necessary, of course. The other thing you have to do is to know how to look for these jobs. The US information technology industry is hurting for professionals who really know how to do this type of work.
A few other misperceptions to clear up about IT jobs
Because fewer people are entering the IT industry as a career path, computer science major students, too, are becoming fewer at universities around the country. Yet, this is something that could be corrected quite easily, as long as this misperception is corrected. That is, we need a pool of people who are versed in IT to pursue jobs in IT here in this country -- and we need a variety of people to do it.
The perception right now it is that it's the "computer geeks" who have to pursue this type of work, but that's not true anymore. Why? Because "IT jobs" themselves are becoming an integral part of every industry. That is, everyone who has a career has to be at least somewhat versed in IT, and therefore has jobs functions in IT, if not IT jobs in isolation. This is in fact a trend for the future, as business and computers become increasingly merged.
Looking for IT jobs
Because fewer people are actually going into the IT industry these days computer science backgrounds, companies are hungry for people knowledgeable about IT and looking for IT jobs. Therefore, again, as long as you know what you're doing, you can find a job in IT if you wish.
In addition, this is one of the best ways to freelance, because you can work from home at your own pace. Many employers, in fact, would prefer to hire contract workers as opposed to full-time workers; alternatively, employers also fill out skeleton staffs (with the recession still in force) by outsourcing IT work as necessary.
Regardless of whether you want to work in jobs in IT as a full-time employee or on a freelance basis, take a look around the Internet by visiting the professional networking sites like LinkedIn to get some ideas. There are also job sites specifically geared for IT jobs (some of them work at home, contract jobs) around the Internet. Some of these are legitimate, and some of them are not. A good way to find out whether or not these companies are legitimate is to simply google the company's name and "review," "scam," or "complaint." This will tell you whether or not a particular "opportunity" is in fact legitimate.
You can also look for IT jobs on sites that post legitimate listings from employers. Although some average job sites do post legitimate listings, a lot of them are buried by fly-by-night schemes and operations, so that you have to wade through a lot of junk in order to get to legitimate listings.
InformationTechnologyCrossing.com is different. InformationTechnologyCrossing.com charges prospective IT jobs candidates a small fee to look at IT jobs listings, but every listing there is legitimate and is a real opportunity for work. That's as compared to most sites, which get their revenues from charging so-called "employers" fees to list. Because of this, they don't screen employers carefully, for the most part, and a lot of scam information gets mixed in along with the little bit of legitimate IT jobs' information available. So, if you're looking for one of the available (and sorely needed) jobs in IT, consider looking at InformationTechnologyCrossing.com. You may just find your next career.
